Today, April 28, was the soft opening of Lakeview native Jamie Santopadre's store at 901 Harrison Ave. The sign outside says "Tastee" and "McKenzie's," each in the distinctive logo style of the franchise. It's a safe bet that hearts of drivers fluttered when they saw the McKenzie's name, as many people crave the baked goods from the defunct local chain.

There used to be a McKenzie's Pastry Shoppe in this location.

Today, customers found all the styles of Tastee doughnuts, plus many products labeled "Original McKenzie's," including brownies, pound cakes, red-sugared jelly rolls, cinnamon rolls and buttermilk drops. At the beginning of the day, there were turtles, too, but those sold out before 3 p.m.

"We will be adding more of the McKenzie's products," Santopadre said, "but we'll never have everything."

Customers asked for a many of their McKenzie's favorites, she said, including blackout cake, petit fours and patty shells.

"We'll do a little bit at a time," she added. "Whenever we stop, we stop."

In the metro area, five Tastee locations serve some of the McKenzie's product's. Santopadre has operated a Tastee franchise at 2201 Veterans Memorial Blvd. in Kenner since 1994. That one was destroyed by Katrina, along with her Lakeview home and this store, which she was readying to open just before the failure of the levees pushed 14 feet of water into it in 2005.

Santopadre said she purchased all the McKenzie's recipes, but it's not like she could just start cranking them out. For starters, they're in massive amounts. Her father, Joe Santopadre, said the recipes were so old (from the 1940s and maybe even older) and makers of many of the ingredients called for were no longer in business.

"You had to go out and develop the original recipe from different sources," he said. It took two years of research and development "to hit on the original king cake."

Customers also asked about Tastee's little Kastle Burgers, he added. Kastle Burgers served in the Tastee locations make it more of an all-day business, after doughnut sales drop off around 11 a.m.

"As much as everybody loves McKenzies, Tastee's been around many, many years. Since 1962," he said.

The store will have a grand opening in about two weeks, Jamie Santopadre said.